Media moments

Calling the game

Commentators, photographers and journalists have all helped bring rugby league to the people.

Coverage has expanded through newspapers, radio, television and now the internet.

Many media identities have become almost as well-known as the players they cover.

It is through their words that the story of rugby league has unfolded.

Capturing the moment

Newtown versus Easts.
Photo: Hood Collection, State Library of New South Wales.

From the beginning of rugby league, photographers have captured the crash of the tackle, the moment the ball crosses the tryline and the expressions of agony and elation on the players' faces. Pictorial spreads featured in publications such as the Sydney Mail and the Town and Country Journal.

Photographs taken by Sam Hood, John O'Gready, Ern McQuillan, John Elliott, Colin Whelan and their colleagues documented the passion of the game.

Sam Hood ran a popular photographic studio and captured the everyday life of Sydney during the first half of the twentieth century. He played a leading role in getting newspapers, including the Labor Daily, to use sporting photographs. Many early images of rugby league are credited to Sam.